The next week rolled around and I wheeled big red out of the shed again and got the lawn mowed...then again and again, all the while my mower sitting in the back of the shed collecting dust, and life jackets and a soccer goal...and whatever else got thrown over that way. It was soon out of sight and out of mind. One sunny Saturday my inlaws stopped by to visit, unexpectedly, and saw me out back mowing with what my father in law had specifically touted as "the best mower we've ever owned." They asked how it was mowing for me and all but gave me their blessing to use it whenever I needed to, once I emphatically explained my predicament with my "recently" broken down unit.
To make a long story short, after that encounter I became more cavalier about the use of the red blade. I figured I would just use it for the remainder of the season and fix my mower over winter, it's what the professionals do. Seemed like a good plan until one Thursday evening in late October. On that fateful night I was hurrying to finish mowing the front lawn so I could get inside and out of the cold. I was mowing the ditch, careful to stay clear of the greedy fire hydrant when in a cloud of dust, dirt, grass and smoke the mower came to a sudden and violent stop. Silent and still smelling of burnt oil, the mower just sat there and stared up at me. I was scared to pull it back for fear of the worst. Had I cut too close and somehow caught a hidden root or underground pipe of some kind. Was there a rock I hadn't seen? Nope. I had lowered the deck in hopes that this might be the last time I had to mow the ditches for the year and had dug up about 4 inches of sod. The blade of the mower was bent down, unnaturally. It looked like an athlete who had their knee folded in on itself. You just knew it's career was over. I limped it back to the shed, the ditch only half mowed, looking around to see if the event was witnessed by anyone. Nope. I was safe. Now I just needed to figure out what to do when my inlaws decided they were ready for their mower back! I soon found that the riding lawnmower could get plenty close to the ditches if need be.
As it would turn out, the mower just needed a new blade to be functional again. It never really mowed all that well after the incedent, but i was just happy I could use it. We ended up selling that home and moving around Thanksgiving that fall. The house we bought has no ditches and a relatively small yard so I stored the original mower and that spring fired up old red. At first it seemed willing to play along. Having sold our rider with the house it was my only mowing option so it got weekly use. First the cable that engages the self-propelled mechanism broke, no biggie. I just unhooked it. I never really cared for a self-propelled mower anyway. Next the main plastic housing covering the engine fell off. No worries, I didn't mind mowing with something that looked and sounded like Mad Max would have used it to trim around the Thunderdome. Then the wobble started. Apparently the blade I had put on was not as well balanced as the one I ruined. Hey, whatever, for an hour I can put up with almost anything. Then the unthinkable happened...my inlaws bought a house.
I suddenly had to come up with one of two things; a way to repair the now mangled mower, or a new mower that they would like just as much as they had this one. To make a long story short, I went with the latter. It cost me more than I would ever personally pay for a lawn mower and forced me to admit the abuse that their mower had endured. In the end it was a house warming gift and a clear conscious rolled up into one. Now I could really give this piece of junk the treatment it deserved. I mowed it hard and put it away wet. Then, in a spontaneous act of desperation I wheeled it out to the front lawn the day of our community yard sale. It felt good. Like finally breaking up with a girl that your parents had warned you was bad news.
The person who purchased it for a whooping $35 seemed like the type of man who was able to take on a project. This did leave me with a dilemma though. There was still a month and a half of mowing to do...
My neighbor was generous enough to lend me his mower. It worked the way a mower is supposed to. No wobble, no loose cables, no smoke and no random screaming. I thought I could make it through the lawn mowing season and look for a mower in the spring, when the sales are in season. I never expected that I would happen upon a dusty, long forgotten box on the upper "clearance floor" of Lehman's Hardware. The same store where not even a year earlier I had happened upon a Tilley hat. Good surprises abound at Lehman's. After some brief and pleasant negotiation on just how "clearanced" this "one of" piece of lawn technology could be we settled upon a price that was mutually agreeable. It seems that the store had thought of dabbling in the lawn equipment business briefly but that they had pulled the plug before ever really giving it a shot. The mower I had found was a relic of that endeavor. It was the only one they had ordered, and would be the only one they would sell. That alone makes the whole transaction feel special for some reason. Like when the used car salesman tells you the story about the little old lady who only drove the car to the market and to the hospital to volunteer, only this story was true. I got a deal.
I'm looking forward to mowing my lawn. Hopefully tonight. It will be like mowing again for the very first time. I am doing my part to help the environment too. I've never really been "Green" before. Feels a little nerdy, but a cool kind of nerdy. Like the first kid on the block with an Ipad. Only this can mulch.
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